


If You Love Him

by RobinsonsWereHere



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotions, F/M, Love Confessions, Secret Santa Fic, Spideychelle, starkers dni
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21997699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinsonsWereHere/pseuds/RobinsonsWereHere
Summary: Peter gets hurt on a mission, and MJ worries over her feelings for him. She realizes she loves him, but now she doesn't even know if she'll get to tell him that.For @i-larb-you on tumblr, as part of startrekkingaroundasgard's MCU secret santa!
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Pepper Potts, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 91





	If You Love Him

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays, KP! I hope that's your name, I found it in your tumblr bio...

Michelle always keeps her phone on silent during school. She also always checks it as soon as the bell rings, plugging her headphones in and looking for updates on if she’s babysitting her little brother or her twin cousins or both. It’s part of her logical, efficient routine. 

One Friday afternoon, when she checks, the babysitting info is lost under text after text, missed call after missed call. Pepper Potts. A blocked number. Three texts from Pepper. Two more calls from the blocked number. Five texts from Happy Hogan. Two missed calls from May Parker. A missed call from Happy. Thirty thousand or so texts from Ned.

One message from Peter.

She listens to that first, making sure her earbuds are plugged in as she hurries down the sidewalk.

_”MJ, it’s me… well, you know that, you have my phone number. But I, uh… I’m in some trouble… not the kind you can help with, so don’t come find me, even though I know you have my phone tracked. I just want to say that, uh, I’m gonna try to make everything okay. It should be fine. But, um, stuff is happening, so don’t worry if you see me on the news.”_ The recording is suddenly filled with the sound of rushing air, like he’s swinging on his webs. _”Shit, shit, I gotta go. I’ll see you later, MJ, I love--”_

The voicemail cuts off with the sound of a phone against pavement.

Only when Michelle goes to click the next voicemail does she realize her hands are shaking. “Get it together,” she whispers to herself. “Get it together, Jones, c’mon.”

She scrolls through the texts from Ned, finding her friend panicking over Peter chasing down some bad guy and getting more than he bargained for. A lump settles in her throat. Deciding not to waste her time on a dozen more accounts of the same event, she finds the message from Pepper.

_”Hello Michelle, it’s Pepper,”_ the message begins. _”I know you’re in school right now, and I want you to stay there, but Tony just got a call from Peter. He’s heading out now to help him with the situation; it should be under control soon. Unfortunately, it’s my understanding that Peter has been injured… again, everything will be okay, but I’m just letting you know. Feel free to come up to the apartment after school, I hope they’ll be home by then.”_

‘The apartment’ is a small loft in the city, bought when Pepper and Tony decided they shouldn’t stay so isolated in the cabin they’d moved to after their wedding, but didn’t want to live in the Avengers Compound. MJ is slightly confused as to why she’s being invited there, when the Compound is where the post-mission debriefs take place, and where the medical facilities are. Maybe Peter is in good enough shape to not need medical help.

Turning up the street toward Pepper and Tony’s place, Michelle texts her parents that she’s going to Peter’s. Twenty minutes and one decently short subway ride later, she’s waving her school ID over the elevator keypad and riding up to the penthouse. It’s modest, as far as penthouses go, but still-- nothing but the best for Tony Stark and his family.

“Hi, Michelle,” Pepper greets, giving her a gentle smile. “Come on in. I just sliced up some apples for Morgan, do you want any? We have peanut butter to dip it in.”

“I’m actually not hungry,” Michelle says quietly, hanging her bag on the hook by the door. She slips her phone into her back pocket, then pulls it back out again. No new messages. “What, uh-- do you know what happened to Peter?”

“I don’t know everything,” Pepper answers slowly. MJ can tell she’s trying to choose her words carefully. Pepper is a hell of a diplomat, her skills honed by years of smoothing over Tony’s brashness. But today, MJ wants blunt.

“Well, then, what do you know?”

“He was injured and hiding when he called Tony,” Pepper says, “but he wanted to go back out, to keep fighting. Tony told him to stay put, but he didn’t want whoever he was up against to get away.”

MJ swallows around a lump in her throat. “Of course he didn’t.” She flops down onto the soft couch, feeling numb. “He’s a hero. He’s always a hero.”

Pepper sighs, joining her on the couch. When she squeezes her hand, MJ pulls away.

“Michelle, it’s hard. I know it’s hard. People like Peter, like Tony… they’re always putting others before themselves. If you love them, you learn to love that part of them, too. But it doesn’t always work out. Love doesn’t always come. And it’s okay if it doesn’t.”

“No,” MJ says, blinking back tears. “No, I love him. I just-- I haven’t told him yet. And he told me, he said it right before his message cut off and if I never get to say it back, I swear to god I’m never going to forgive him, I need him to be okay-- oh, _goddamnit,_ now I’m crying.” MJ swallows hard, trying not to sob even as tears begin to fall. She hates crying.

“He’ll be alright,” Pepper says, her voice so calm and steady that MJ believes her. “Tony won’t let anything happen to him. He’ll bring him home.”

MJ sighs shakily. “God, I hope so.”

As it turns out, Peter is home within the hour. The first thing MJ hears is the door opening, and the second, his voice. “MJ,” he rasps, sounding hoarse and tired but so wonderfully alive.

She doesn’t let him get another word out before she throws her arms around his neck, hugging him as tightly as she can. “God, Peter. Thank god you’re okay.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says, and the way he sounds like he can’t breathe makes MJ step back a little, holding his hands instead of hugging him. “I just have a few bruised ribs, and my arm is technically broken, but between Dr. Cho and my powers, it’ll be fine in a week or two.”

That alone is enough to make MJ feel vaguely sick, but then Tony pipes up. “Kid, your heart stopped. You’re not ‘fine’ please, for my health, if not yours, lie down for a bit.”

MJ gapes, then lightly smacks Peter’s uninjured arm. “Oh my god! Are you insane? Why the hell are you standing up?”

She practically herds him to the room that’s unofficially his, making sure he lies down comfortably. “May is on her way over,” she tells him. “You should try to get some rest.”

“MJ,” he asks, staring dazedly at her as she leans somewhat awkwardly against the doorframe, “did you, uh, get my message?”

“Yes,” she admits, folding her arms, “but I refuse to let you say what you said over the phone, on a voicemail, when you thought you were going to die.” She swallows, drawing up the courage to say what she wants to. “If you mean it, then say it again.”

Peter gives her a warming grin. “MJ, I love you.”

She, too, smiles widely as she walks over to him and crawls onto the bed. She kisses him softly, then presses her forehead to his. “Oh, Peter. I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! leave a comment or kudos, or come find me on tumblr @trixiesfranklin !


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